Archive for September, 2012

The United States has warned Japan and China that if their international squabbling over several islands of disputed ownership standing between their countries––and other Asian nations––doesn’t stop, it could ultimately lead to a ‘hot’ war. Even now nations are posturing war ships in the area.

Apparently, an abundance of fish in this limited location in the East China Sea––known as the Diayu Islands in China, but called the Senkaku Islands islands in Japan––has been a bone of contention in the area for years. Also natural undersea gas and oil fields around the islands enhance their value.

But when Japan purchased three of the islands for $ 26 million from a private Japanese owner, China insisted Japan was stealing its property, and that China would ‘assert’ its rule over the islands. While Koichiro Yoshida, vice president of the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly, says he does not believe the quarrel will lead to war, he adds: “But if it does and the Chinese vessels enter the territorial waters around the Islands, Japan should take aggressive measures. We must protect the rights of our citizens and our sovereignty over the islands.

The dispute can hurt both nations economically. majiroxnews.com reports: “Nissan Motor’s sales in August fell and many joint events as well as Chinese tours to Japan have been canceled.” Yet Yoshida vows that this squirmish will not interfere with the economic health of either nation: “Japan is a major investor and China is our largest trading partner. Although Chinese consumers might not buy Japanese brands because of this. I suspect there is too much at risk for both countries, but it will be more damaging for China.”

Meanwhile, according to Ben Blanchard and Jason Lee of Reuters News Service, violent anti-Japan protests have broken out in China and other Asian nations. Chinese officials struggle to contain populist anger. Demonstrators assaulted the Japanese embassy, looted Japanese shops, destroyed Japanese cars, and disrupted Japanese factories, yelling “Japan, get the hell out of China!”

Taiwan has jumped into the fray by dispatching 40 fishing boats and 12 patrol ships to the islands, which that nation also says belong to them. Moreover, South Korea’s Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan asserts that it joins China and Taiwan against Japan because: “We are [all] victims of Japanese colonial rule.”

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta recently advised: “. . . when these countries engage in provocations . . . it raises the possibility that a misjudgment . . . could result in violence in . . . a potentially expanding conflict.”

This escalating conflict is one example of end-times “wars and rumors of wars” that The LORD Jesus speaks of in Mark 13: 7, a verse that should be printed on plus size Christian sweatshirts to prepare believers for the coming Final War.

As thousands in Spain and Greece take to the streets this week to protest the European Union’s (EU) austerity plan (i.e. Germany’s plan), jittery stock markets in the United States and around the world tumbled. Two nations openly revolting are the tip of a growing European iceberg that nations there want austerity to end!

Extinction Protocol claims: “European shares and the euro fell sharply, as developments in Greece and Spain sent a new wave of anxiety through the ranks of international investors. National indexes were also down by between 1 percent and 3 percent. The euro was at $1.2865, down from $1.2950.”

More than 1,000 riot police confronted protesters in Greece where one protester told Reuters News Service: “For the past two-to-three years we’ve been living an incredible social catastrophe. My salary has been cut by 50 percent. I have two children and tomorrow I don’t know if I’ll have a job.”

Also, Dina Kokou, a 54-year-old teacher, with four children cried: “We can’t take it anymore – we are bleeding. We can’t raise our children like this.”

Demonstrations began as some 70,000 people marched up to the Greek parliament loudly shouting “EU, IMF Out!” against the European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The New York Times writes that as politicians in Greece prepare to negotiate a new round of cuts to placate their creditors, strikers shut down: shipping ports, museums, air ports and trains, schools, shops and hospitals, etc. All because strikers feel betrayed by the new coalition government that took power in June.

A Reuters report from Spain says: “Evictions have also skyrocketed across Spain as thousands have failed to repay bank loans. . . protesters were enraged that the government was making cuts to health, education and public sector salaries while pumping funds into the country’s ailing banking sector to keep it afloat.”

Reuters also relates: “The Bank of Spain said Wednesday that the country, where one in four faces unemployment, is in the grips of a deep depression. . . . violent protest led to 38 arrests and 64 injuries, including 8 police officers.” Growing tensions arise as the government prepares more austerity measures.

Amid the turmoil, politicians in Spain’s historically autonomous region of Catalonia now threatens to secede, but Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy still resists losing his nation’s sovereignty by asking EU banks for a bailout.

Nations falling into chaos––after EU leaders told the world that problems were solved––forebodes the civil wars and deceptions needed to set World War III afire––just as Germany seems to want.

These are among the many kinds of wars in wholesale Christian Bibles that The LORD Jesus warns are signs of the end times: “And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars . . . but the end is not yet. (Matthew 24: 6).” So get ready!

Rev. Repriestly: OK Kids. Jael has given new orders about the Conference. She knows you favor panels about people destroying the animal kingdom. But she also wants you to do panels on animals attacking humans on a mass scale.

John J. Jr.: But Doc, us kids have done all this internet researchin’ on Global Warming killing all kinds o’ fish in oceans, lakes and rivers. En Aleen’s working on summer droughts killing animals. You all got ideas on this new assignment?

Allie: Well, my side gigs is on stray dogs, wild chimpanzees, mountain lions going into parks and coyotes living in cities. And there’s bears killing people in national parks and going into stores for food. But that’s doubles my work!

Farley: En I guess I can go back to looking into those python snakes creeping up through Florida and Texas into the upper U.S. In a few years those killer snakes will be everywhere in our country. Its a bad sign of evil.

Sissy: See here John J., I know more than just ‘bout spiders. And I’s gonna report on those killer cats. Don’t shake your heads! Yea common household cats. I am tired of all these commercials cryin’ about cuddly cats and kittens.

The truth is cats kills birds. They kill ‘em when they cab catch ‘em. And those salesmen on TV selling cat food, don’t want people to think about the dead birds. Some of our latest internet newspaper stories even say cats is killing people.

Look at that story a few weeks ago, ‘. . . Antibodies, Dementia, and Cat Ownership Among Men . . .’ by Dr. William A. Schwartzman and his group. It said: “Cat ownership was associated with the presence of IgM antibodies . . . and with neuro-psychological decline and dementia.”

Farley: She’s right John. Our country must do more to rein in the animal kingdom. SPX News Service ran a story a few days ago showing that crows have memories just like people. And they remember people who attack them, and find ways to attack those attackers.

If we don’t do something about growing numbers of wild and domestic animals, we’ll soon be like Switzerland. In ‘Wild animals on the Increase in Switzerland, Extinction Protocol explains: “Wild animals including bears, wolves and jackals are on the increase in Switzerland, a government agency said Friday, as it reported a spike in the figures across the country.”

Reinhard Schnidrig, Director of Switzerland’s Environment Department, explains that animals are moving upward to cooler temperatures in Switzerland. The female animals are moving first to protect their young, and males soon follow.

Rev. Repriestly: Use this verse from your online Bible lessons as a starting point, Revelation 6: 8, “And . . . behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill . . . with the beasts of the earth.”

While some experts believe new pandemics can hit the United States, most are doubtful. Yet the doubters cannot explain rising flu statistics, flu’s attendant diseases, and new unexplainable viruses and bacteria attacking U.S. citizens.

Zachary Thompson, Dallas County Health Department Director, argues wealthier cities can clean neglected pools and other sites for mosquito breeding to fight West Nile Virus, but poor cities cannot. Most inner-cities remain filled with abandoned houses in which mosquitoes breed in tires, trash cans and other receptacles holding stagnant water.

Also, researchers reporting in the Journal of the American Medical Association warn that swine flu brings victims ‘a small but significant risk of Guillain-Barré Syndrome, a dangerous paralyzing nerve disorder. Others from British Columbia University write in Medical News Today that the same flu can also end in crippling Parkinson’s disease, with chances doubling later in life.

In addition, two more mysterious illnesses are circulating around the world. What doctors call an AIDS-like disease that attacks immune systems, is not inherited or transferred sexually, and usually attacks victims over 50. The Associated Press says this mystery disease is active in Asia and the United States.

Another medical mystery is the deadly superbug that has broken out in one of the most pristine hospitals in the world: The National Institutes of Health Clinical Center. The Washington Post says some 20 victims have been hit with this antibiotic-resistant strain that started in New York a year ago, and seven have died.

Most of these diseases are what doctors call zoonoses, because they can jump from animals to human beings. HIV, Ebola, SARS, Hantaviruses, etc. all attach to human beings from animal environments. And, apparently few of these can easily pass from people to people.

However, in ‘Anticipating the Next Pandemic,’ David Quammen assures that the U.S. is ‘probably’ no where near a pandemic. His reasons: Hantavirus usually only transfers from mouse to mouse, unless humans in cramped areas breathe in their dust; Ebola will probably stay only in Africa, and SARS only in Asia, etc. He does admit that the next pandemic will probably come from a virus. And yes, he does admit that the next one IS coming.

All the invasions from nature affecting Egypt in the Book of Exodus (Chapters 7 through 12)––flies, dead fish flooding bloody waters, lice, animal infections, diseased dust, fire-filled storms, plant-eating locusts––now threaten the United States and the world.

These events in Exodus are Bible prophecies foretelling end-time judgments for unrepentant nations. Pharaoh could have softened his heart, and yielded to obey the righteousness God. Nations have the same opportunity today.

As U.S. health officials get ready for Fall and Winter seasonal diseases, several problems persist. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports this week that now the number of West Nile Virus cases is 3,142, with 134 deaths. The agency insists the rate is slowing, but states say cases are increasing.

Flu vaccines are ready, but they may not cover all possible flu virus combinations. Researchers warn that schools are not prepared for possible pandemic levels. And depressed economic conditions leave most neighborhoods with foreclosed and abandoned houses that are rife environments for diseased mosquitoes, rats, cats, dogs, etc. to invade neighborhoods.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved this year’s vaccine formula for six manufacturers to produce and distribute. Since the H3N2 and B strains are different from last year, Dr. Karen Midthun, Director of FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, advises: “It is especially important to get vaccinated this year because two of the three virus strains used in this season’s influenza vaccines differ from the strains included in last year’s vaccines.”

Several news outlets released astounding assessments from 2,000 nurses in elementary, middle and high schools in 26 states reporting to the St. Louis University Medical Center that U.S. schools are so unprepared for health disasters that they can make emergencies––i.e. “bio-terrorism attacks, outbreaks of emerging infectious diseases or pandemics”–-even worse.

Dr. Terri Rebmann of the Center’s Institute for Bio-security says the survey indicates that only 48 percent of schools deal with pandemic preparedness; and only 40 percent of schools have updated their plans since the 2009 flu pandemic that hit some 214 countries. “Schools need to have a written pandemic plan in order to be prepared to put interventions into place quickly when an event occurs.”

Survey results, published in the ‘American Journal of Infection Control,” also found that 44 percent of schools “do not participate in community surveillance that tracks the presence of a disease based upon symptoms reported by area residents.” School presence is vital in such efforts because local public health departments assess and issue information about coming biological threats.

How could the richest nation on earth, so underfund its public schools that they either share or have no nurses. If schools are not involved in planning for epidemics, then what institutions are? What other places have the most vulnerable people––our children––in continuing close contact for most hours in a day?

When The LORD Jesus said “Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 19: 14),” He certainly didn’t mean expose them to disease and let them die! How shameful that Christian home decor may hang this verse on walls, but not follow it with practice!

Scientists suspect that SARS and other serious diseases may be additional strands behind West Nile Virus, and could accompany illnesses in the coming Fall and Winter Flu seasons. They also suspect that flu makes its victims susceptible to other more serious diseases, like Parkinson’s Disease & Guillain-Barré Syndrome.

Stephen Deal, writing for the Metro Desk at dailymail.co.uk, says: “Crisis: winter flu outbreak could hide the return of SARS. A major flu outbreak could disguise a resurgence of the deadly SARS virus, . . .” Deal says that schools, businesses, and even hospitals, have closed trying to cope with widespread flu.

John Oxford of the Royal London Hospital says: “We’ve had next to no flu for the last three years and I don’t think we are going to escape this year. My main worry is that SARS might creep in unnoticed . . .and be mistaken for flu. The symptoms can appear similar and SARS might be interpreted as bad flu.”

Deal draws information from the U.S. Center for Disease Control which sent warning to England that Influenza A is coming to the U.S. and Europe. Already this year in England flu cases have been mistaken for SARS.

Oxford’s worries that if 15% of Britons are infected, 30,000 would need hospitalization. He says such a run of flu patients would be a public health crisis.

Another worry is that flu victims not showing symptoms can pass the virus to others. In “Influenza Is Transmissible Before Onset of Symptoms,” Christian Nordqvist insists that easy transmission makes difficult to prevent epidemics.

Scientists even told Nordqvist that flu transmission does not depend on people sneezing, that “normal breathing can expel droplets of the virus into the air,” making the spread of flu “very difficult to control.”

Nordqvist mentions temperature screens at airports. Dr. Catharine Paddock says in “Study Examines Role Of Airports In Spreading Disease,” airports aid in the spread of diseases around the world: “In 2003, the SARS outbreak took merely a few weeks to spread . . . to 37 countries, killing nearly 1,000 people. In 2009, the H1N1 “swine flu” pandemic killed nearly 300,000 people worldwide.”

Paddock adds: “Of the 40 US airports the model examined in terms of influence on disease spread, it puts Kennedy Airport in first place, followed by airports in Los Angeles, Honolulu, San Francisco, Newark, Chicago (O’Hare) and Washington (Dulles).” She is hopeful that awareness of how SARS and swine flu spread around the world will help air travelers protect themselves and get flu shots.

If England’s health system could be shut down if 15% of its population were struck with ‘a flu epidemic, what would 15% of 350 million plus Americans do to the U.S. health system? Thus, Christian messages demand that believers seek God’s mercy: “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; (Psalm 103: 2 – 3).”

Is there anything other than economic unity that seems to hold Europe together? And are economic interests alone strong enough to maintain that Union, or is the Union itself a myth that may accommodate cross-continent travel, and the economic interest of generally northern European countries?

In ‘Where’s Charlemagne When We Need Him?,’ Isitvan Deak asserts “The trouble is that the European Union (EU) presently exists mainly for its elites––politicians, businessmen, professionals, academics and top students––who can cross borders with ease.” Thus, economic class is still Europe’s great divider.

Deak goes deeper: “It is not yet the Europe of the vast majority of people who have trouble with languages and for whom finding employment abroad is quite difficult. . . . Archduke Otto Hapsburg . . . warned that economic cooperation alone would not satisfy the peoples of Europe and that European unification could not succeed unless it was imbued with an abstract principle.”

The Archduke said that only a mystical movement, such as the Holy Roman Empire, can give Europeans enough euphoric hope and renewal to overcome “the pernicious effects of local interest, chauvinism, xenophobia and racism.” The Catholic Church insists it is the EU’s spiritual force as a precursor to re-establishing that Holy Roman Empire. But its scandals, and low numbers in church attendance do not inspire hope.

Because some EU countries, such as Spain and Greece, now sink deeper into economic depressions, their people go to other nations in the ‘Union,’ looking for work, only to find two barriers: 1) They cannot speak or understand the language of their ‘host’ country; and 2) The ‘host’ country selfishly ostracizes them as unwanted vagrants, only there to prey upon the ‘host’s’ wealth.

All of which is evidence of a lack of collective concern in the EU––i.e. unless nations have past ethnic or cultural ties, most have little sense of concern about how events in a nation 1,000 miles across the continent affects them. And, as with Greece, too often the sentiment is if nations don’t conform to EU rules––simply put such trifling countries out of the ‘Union.’

If what holds Europe together is purely financial connections, leaders of individual nations do not understand why they must give up sovereign rule over their countries just to borrow funds from EU financial institutions. They had assumed such loans would be based on usual promises to repay. Trusting Germany and other richer nations, these leaders apparently never imagined that these loans would mean wealthier nations would rule over them.

If only they had been taught historical books of the Old Testament which warns: “The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender (Proverbs 22: 7).”

The press assured the public negotiations between the European Union and its debtor nations were settled. But apparently things are unraveling again. Two months ago, press releases indicated that Spain was satisfied with offers from Germany and the European Union (EU) to help with its debt, but now headlines blare: ‘Eurozone crisis: Spain Refuses Bailout Terms.’

Moreover––while the news reports said a few days ago Germany was sending Greece a peace-maker to approve its urgently-needed economic bailout––Greece is falling deeper into the fifth year of economic depression. As with Spain, the question in Greece is: Will the borrowing nations maintain their sovereignty?

In fact, Mariano Rajoy, Spain’s prime minister refuses to call the loan for his country, a bailout. But that is exactly what Mario Draghi, President of EU’s European Central Bank says the loan must be called.

Stephen Burgen of guardian.co.uk writes: “Draghi announced last week that the bank would buy unlimited quantities of sovereign debt to ensure eurozone governments retained access to funding, [with] strings attached.”

Apparently, those strings include dictating specific policies and economic cuts to Spain. Rajoy says, “I couldn’t accept anyone else telling us what our policies should be or where we have to make cuts.” Burgen concludes: Rajoy decided that, if he has to make spending cuts and other unpopular decisions, then he will do it without ceding sovereignty the way the Greeks had to do.

And just what good did it do Greece to cede that sovereignty? Today, the country is in its fifth year of deep economic depression. Reuters reporter Renee Maltezou exclaims: “Greek Union Warns of Austerity ‘Death Spiral.’” Some 25% of Greek’s workers are government employed, and the country plans to lay off 100,000 government workers by December. Costas Tsikrikas, head of a 500,000 member union, insists the government stop slashing salaries, but go after the rich.

“The state must take the money from those who have the income to pay the taxes. The rich, the big companies that use the workforce of this country. Don’t they owe the country and its people something?”

Tsikrikas was particularly speaking of professionals, such as doctors and lawyers, who are known to take ‘under the table’ cash payments to avoid paying taxes. So striking unions shut down the country, which only exacerbates matters.

Meanwhile neo-Nazism naturally thrives in a country where––according to Rick Newman of U.S. News & World Report––the unemployment rate is 24.4% and among young people it is 55%. Economic depressing and growing neo-Nazism: Sure signs of the next world war.

As the Book of Revelation foretells: “And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine (6: 6).” Lying political ideology, hunger, poverty, and economic seduction––all leading to murderous war!

The West Nile Virus is still on the rise, and health officials in this country seem powerless to stop it. In fact, they expect these multiplying cases to continue through the end of October. Some experts say this virus will go even further.

At a tele-news-conference yesterday, Dr. Lyle Petersen, Director of the Division of Vector-Borne Diseases in the CDC’s (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, said:

“A total of 2,636 cases of West Nile virus disease in people, including 118 deaths, have been reported to CDC, which is an overall increase of about 35 percent over last week’s numbers. . . . 1,405 (53 percent) were classified as neuro-invasive disease (such as meningitis or encephalitis) and 1,231; (47 percent) were classified as non-neuro-invasive disease.

“For comparison, the numbers reported as of September 4 were 1,993 cases total, with 1,069 cases of neuro-invasive disease, and 87 deaths. The 1,405 cases of West Nile virus neuro-invasive disease is the highest number of such cases reported to CDC through the second week of September since West Nile virus was introduced into the United States in 1999.”

Petersen was especially concerned about what is now the highest number of neuron-invasive diseases cases. While 2/3s of the cases remain in Texas, Louisiana, South Dakota, Mississippi, Michigan and Oklahoma––the Director also stressed that, in view of waters left from Hurricane Isaac, the CDC and FEMA are working with officials in Louisiana and Mississippi to develop stronger mosquito control. Reporters questions revealed that states getting low on test kits for the virus.

Moreover, in a Washington Post article, ‘Does the West Nile outbreak signal an epidemic of viral epidemics? Yes and no.,’ Joel Achenbach, David Brown and Lena H. Sun claim “we are swimming in a sea of viruses” or an epidemic of epidemics. In addition to West Nile virus, they add: “hantavirus, swine flu, bird flu, SARS, ebola and the great global scourge of HIV.”

They lament that the planet’s 7 billion people and international transportation have created a hotbed of global pathogens: bacteria which can sometimes be controlled, and viruses which cannot be controlled. Viruses simply highjack a cell it selects and wraps itself around it, so that it is impossible to kill the virus without killing the cell it has hijacked.

Unless the medical community does better than this and soon, citizens in this nation and others will soon be over-run by epidemics of epidemics of epidemics. Only by the grace of God can such an avalanche of diseases be stopped. It is time to print on plus size christian t-shirts God’s promises of healing: “Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases (Psalm 103: 3). . .” But note those healings come after repentance and forgiveness!

Two out of three Americans now believe that Global Warming is responsible for extreme weather. Also, scientists, including former climate-change deniers, now strongly admit that Global Warming is very real and very dangerous––that is except those who forecast the weather for Americans everyday in popular media.

However, one climate-change denier now publicly admits he was wrong. After supervising a large research project on earth temperatures, Berkeley Professor, Richard A. Muller calls himself “a converted skeptic.” He now posits not only that Global Warming is real, but that human beings cause it.

In ‘Heating up Debate on Climate Change,’ Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson points to James E. Hanson, head of the NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, who says “The future is now. And it is hot.” Hanson believes he was too optimistic when testifying before Congress, not fully exploring “how quickly that average rise would drive an increase in extreme weather.”

He states: “. . . for the extreme hot weather of the recent past, there is virtually no explanation other than climate change. The deadly European heat wave of 2003, the fiery Russian heat wave of 2010 and catastrophic droughts in Texas and Oklahoma last year can each be attributed to climate change.”

6) Number of hurricanes has doubled over the last century ; 7) Coral reefs now bleached 70% more from excess warmth; 8) 92% of energy comes from non-renewable sources; 9) Sea levels are rising at ten times the rate in the last century; 10) World Health Organization says Global Warming causes 150,000 deaths a year.

Bible prophecies make clear that things are going to get much worse. The Book of Revelation says that heat will scorch men, but they will just curse God: “And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the Name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give Him glory (16: 9).” But we still have time to pray that world leaders will reverse Global Warming!